title: Epidemiological aspects of biliary tree tumors in a region of northern Italy: emerging trends and sex-based differences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and gallbladder cancer are the second cause of liver malignancy after hepatocellular carcinoma. Epidemiological data point to an increase in the incidence of CCA in both western and eastern countries; however, data on more recent years are lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to elucidate the more recent epidemiology of CCA and gallbladder carcinoma in north-east Italy using automatically collected regional data on hospital admissions over a 10-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective analysis of the Veneto region (north-east Italy) database of patients' hospital discharge records, identifying cases with the following codes: intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (155.1), primary gallbladder cancer (156.0), and primary extrahepatic biliary tract cancer (156.1). Hospitalizations were recorded according to the surgical or medical procedures involved (based on International Classification of Diseases-9 procedure codes), and only the first hospitalization was considered for the 2005-2009 period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of hospitalizations for biliary tumors as a whole has remained stable over the past 10 years. The hospitalization rate of intrahepatic CCA is increasing; this cancer is more frequent in males than in females. The hospitalization rate for gallbladder cancer is increasing with age. However, the figures for extrahepatic CCA have remained stable over the past 10 years. The duration of survival was significantly longer for patients who underwent radical surgery than for those who did not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Efforts are needed to prevent CCA, bearing in mind the emerging conditions associated with its onset. Secondary prevention of these tumors will substantially improve the duration of survival.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology bLaboratory of Public Health and Population Studies, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova cNational Centre for Health and Gender Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Annarosa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Floreani
authors.forename: Manola
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lisiero
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baldovin
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baldo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D017734:Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis